June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russian stock futures fell and an
index of companies traded in the U.S. pared a weekly decline as
investors weighed the prospects for monetary stimulus to be
extended with economic data pointing to a slowdown.

Contracts on Moscow’s dollar-denominated RTS Index due in
September slid 0.6 percent to 126,870 in U.S. hours. The
Bloomberg Russia-US Equity Index of the most-traded Russian
stocks in the U.S. added 0.8 percent to 85.51 June 14, led by
OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the biggest producer of the metal. CTC
Media Inc., the Nasdaq-listed Russian television network, fell.

Russia, which counts on income from oil and gas for about
half of its budget revenue, is expanding at the slowest pace
since 2009, and weakness in emerging markets prompted the World
Bank to cut its global growth forecast for 2013 last week.
Almost $3 trillion has been erased from the value of global
equities since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said May
22 the central bank could scale back stimulus efforts should the
jobs market outlook show “sustainable improvement.”

“The positive investor sentiment is going to reverse
because the world has not all of a sudden become a much
different place,” Ilya Kravets, director of investment research
at Daniloff Capital LLC in New York, said by phone June 14.
“We’ll see a lot of investors taking a wait-and-see approach.”

Norilsk Rallies

American depositary receipts of Norilsk rose 4.3 percent to
$14.45 in New York, the biggest advance since Dec. 5. The
Moscow-traded stock rallied 4.5 percent to 4,587 rubles, or
$144.60, rebounding from the lowest since July 2010. Each ADR
represents one 10th of a stock.

CTC Media slumped 2.4 percent to $11.82 on June 14,
extending its weekly decline to 2.8 percent. The shares have
surged 52 percent this year.

Bank Rossii held its refinancing rate at 8.25 percent on
June 10. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey
of 26 economists, with four predicting a quarter percentage
point cut. A June 4 report showed that Russian inflation
accelerated for a second month in May to the fastest pace in 21
months, limiting the central bank’s scope to cut interest rates.

Last week’s central bank meeting was the last scheduled
rate gathering before Kremlin economic aide Elvira Nabiullina
takes over June 24 as chairman. The Economy Ministry lowered
this year’s growth forecast to 2.4 percent from 3.6 percent in
April.

Rate Cut

“The actual rate cut we expect in August, rather than in
July because inflation will fall further at that point,”
Vladimir Kolychev, head of research at Societe Generale SA’s OAO
Rosbank, said by phone from Moscow. “The trend of an overall
economic slowdown remains.”

Russia’s ruble gained 0.7 percent to 31.7290 per dollar
June 14 and advanced 0.8 percent to 36.4938 against the dollar-euro basket used by the central bank to manage swings that erode
exporter competitiveness.

Crude for July delivery rose 1.2 percent to $97.85 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange June 14. Brent for August
settlement increased 0.9 percent to $105.93 a barrel on the
London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Urals crude, Russia’s
major export blend, advanced 1.1 percent to $105.37.

The Hong Kong-traded shares of United Co. Rusal, the
world’s largest aluminum producer, had yet to trade, though were
being bid for at HK$3.35 as of 11:30 a.m. local time. The MSCI
Asia Pacific Index gained 0.9 percent.